The National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has warned the European Union against softening its regulations regarding pesticides. In a paper published on Tuesday, the academy stated that abandoning the mandatory re-examination of active pesticide ingredients after ten years would be a mistake.
The authors argue that a time-limited approval ensures a functioning, adaptive regulatory system. Past experience has already shown that many active ingredients have been withdrawn from the market after ten years, either due to new scientific findings or because companies abandoned the re-registration process for economic reasons. The specialists fear that if registration were made indefinite, potentially problematic or outdated ingredients could remain on the market for longer periods. They also doubt that relaxing the rules would lead to increased innovation. They stress that the decade-long review process currently forces manufacturers to continuously monitor and reassess the risks associated with their approved ingredients.
The Leopoldina recommends that the German government advocate at the EU level for maintaining the current re-evaluation rules. However, the schedule for these renewals could depend on the inherent risk profile of the specific ingredient; benign substances might therefore maintain their validity for extended periods. Furthermore, the experts propose instituting post-market monitoring to ensure that approval decisions are not based solely on laboratory data but also on systematic environmental surveillance.
The paper also offers recommendations concerning the withdrawal and consumption deadlines. When ingredients lose their approval after ten years, they can still be used for 18 months in products already purchased. The EU intends to double this period to three years. For the experts, this proposal is problematic when considering public health and environmental risks, as it effectively extends the use of substances already classified as questionable.
